Rome’s market presents DiversiFind, a platform for underrepresented talent, with major industry players such as Amazon and Sky on board

A moment from the presentation

During the 10 October panel at the MIA | Rome International Audiovisual Market, entitled “From Invisible Talent to a New Standard for Diversifying the Audiovisual Industry,” speakers explored the importance of the inclusion of underrepresented groups — on account of gender, ethnicity or disability— in audiovisual production, from economic, entrepreneurial, social and ethical angles, thereby reframing diversity not only as a cultural asset but as a strategic, competitive lever.

DiversiFind is a platform which has opened up new opportunities for underrepresented talent, engaging with key industry stakeholders such as Amazon and Sky. Francesca Vecchioni, president of the Diversity Foundation - which has long worked to promote inclusion and representation of underrepresented communities in the audiovisual field - outlined the work of the innovative DiversiFind initiative, which allows each registered talent to access training courses, scholarships and professional opportunities in entertainment, free of charge.

It's a dedicated marketplace, with more than 500 profiles in its database, 120 different professional roles and four main areas of reference—production, pre-production, localisation and dubbing—covering nine different types of diversity. The principal areas addressed include screenwriting, writing and acting, for which the platform offers support with drafting professional profiles, training, assistance and skills checks.

Miriam Giuliano, language producer at Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video Italy, told the panel that the decision to join DiversiFind was driven both by a commitment to these issues and by market needs. She stressed that a platform aiming to represent reality seeks different stories, created and portrayed faithfully by different people. For this reason, Amazon is making a concerted effort to bring underrepresented people into dubbing in particular, as well as into roles such as language coaches, adapters and more.

The localisation of After the Hunt [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Luca Guadagnino was, for example, a recent challenge on which Amazon, MGM and Sony collaborated as a team on language adaptation and voice casting, especially for non-binary characters, finding suitable professionals thanks to DiversiFind.

In Sky Italy’s case, the need to do more for inclusion has become a priority. Head of Production at Sky Italy Ivana Kastratovich spoke about the choice to act on multiple fronts. This means creating scholarships for underrepresented people in order to facilitate access to professional paths—starting with a call targeting people with a migratory background—as well as increasing awareness of inclusion through training programmes for crews, so that a genuine understanding of what inclusivity means can take root.

The DiversiCheck initiative was also presented during the panel. Using a QR code, it will be possible to measure the degree of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility of any audiovisual production. On entering the relevant data, productions will be able to assess their own scores along this journey, now representing a value which is ethical, economic and tied to the international competitiveness of each product.

(Translated from Italian)